N. KOREA REJECTS U.N. SANCTIONS; CHINA CALLS FOR CALM

Despite sanctions, Pyongyang says its goal is to become a nuclear weapons state

North Korea formally rejected a U.N. Security Council Resolution on Saturday that demands an end to its nuclear arms program, as China called for calm, saying sanctions weren’t the “fundamental” way to resolve tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Pyongyang said it would pursue its goal of becoming a full-fledged nuclear weapons state, despite the sanctions which were unanimously imposed on Friday by the Security Council.

The sanctions aim to tighten financial restrictions and crack down on North Korea’s attempts to transport banned cargo. The resolution, the fifth since 2006 aimed at stopping the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, coincides with a sharp escalation of security tensions on the Korean peninsula after Pyongyang’s third nuclear test on Feb. 12.

North Korea, “as it did in the past, vehemently denounces and totally rejects the ‘resolution on sanctions’ against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a product of the U.S. hostile policy toward it,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.

The North’s sole major ally China has said it wants sanctions implemented, but Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told a news conference on Saturday the best way to resolve the problem was through dialogue. “We always believe sanctions are not the end of Security Council actions, nor are sanctions the fundamental way to resolve the relevant issues,” Yang said, urging all sides to exercise calm and restraint.

“The only right way to resolve the issue is to take a holistic approach and … a comprehensive and balanced manner through dialogue and consultations.”

The sanctions are designed to make punitive measures more like those used against Iran, which Western officials say have been surprisingly successful. Analysts say China’s leaders have become increasingly irritated with North Korea and its recent actions have sparked policy debate within China, but said Beijing isn’t likely to give up on its old friend any time soon.

North Korea defied international warnings and conducted a third nuclear test in February, setting off a device that yielded a stronger blast than its previous test in 2009. It claimed it had made progress in miniaturizing an atomic weapon.

Experts are skeptical of such a claim, and the threat this week to attack the United States, seeing them more as an attempt to boost its security leverage in the face of deepening diplomatic isolation.